Rail-joint



(No Model.)

J. REIPBRT. RAIL JOINT, am.

No. 458,342. PatentedAug. 25, 1891.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

JOHN REIFERT, OF ROME, NEW YORK.

RAIL-JOINT, &}G.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 458,342, dated August 25,1891.

Application filed March 17, 1890. Serial No. 344,094. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, .IOHN REIFERT, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Rome, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, llaveinvented an Improvement in Rail-Joints and the Chairs and Plates for Holding Rails, of which the following is a specification. Y

The invention relates to improvements in rail-joints.

The object of the present invention is to eect economy of time in laying and relay-v ing and replacing rails and to provide a simple and inexpensive rail-joint capable of securely gripping a rail and of having its parts readily assembled and separated for the purpose of laying or replacing rails.

The invention consists in the construction 4and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a rail-joint constructed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view. l

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a rail-chair base-plate constructed of suitable metal and provided in its upper face with a longitudinal depression orrecess 2, in -which are arranged the bottom flanges 3 of rails 4, which have their meeting ends beveled and resting upon the said baseplate 1. The base-plate 1 has secured on its upper face longitudinal flanges 5, arranged near the side edges of the base-plate and are provided on their inner opposed longitudinal faces with recesses 6, which have their top walls 7 concaved and adapted to receive curved edges 8 of angle fish-plates 9, which engage the flanges 5 and the inner bevels of the tread of the rails, and are secured to the latter by bolts 1l, passing through them and the webs of the rails. rlhe llanges 5 are formed by separate removable strips secured by bolts 5 to the upper face of the base-plate at the longitudinal edges of the same. The angle fish-plate 9 is composed of approximately vertical and horizontal plates 12 and 13, the

former of which has its upper edge engaging the under bevel of the tread of the rail, and the horizontal portion or plate 13 has its outer edge 8 bent slightly upward and outward and extending above its upper face and forming a curved rib adapted to engage the recess 6 of the flange 5 and lit snugly in the upper portion thereof and conform to the coniguration of the curved Wall '7, the portions or plates 12 of the angle fish-plates 9 arranged at a slight angle to each other and to the rail, and when the bolts 11 are tightened by their nuts the angle fish-plates grip the rail at the lower bevel of the tread and at the bottom of the web and the bottom flanges, and at the same time the ribs 8 of the horizontal plates 13 are locked into the recesses of the flanges 5. The longitudinal edges 14 of the base-plate 1 are beveled and are engaged by the heads of spikes 15, which secure the base-plate to the crossties. The bottom lianges of the rails sink into the rail-recess, and the rails are thereby prevented from shifting laterally of each other. Should the rails and fish-plates become loose in the chair,

all wear can be readily taken up and the parts tightened by the strips 5 and the bolts and nuts 5a, which is advantageous.

It will readily be seen that the rail-joint is simple and inexpensive in construction, and it can be readily separated and assembled for the purpose of releasing and gripping a rail.

nuts 5, securing the said strips to the baseplate, the rails, the angle fish-plates having their angles curved and engaging the Webs and bottom flanges of the rails and spanning the angles of thesame and being thereby fulcrumed on the webs, and composed of the portions 12 and 13 the portions 13, having their edges curved and engaging the recesses 0f portions l2 and adapted to force the latter the removable strips and the portions l2 beinto engagement with the treads of the rails, ing arranged at an angle and diverging and substantially as described.

havingtheir upper edges beveled and engag- JOHN REIFERT. 5 ing the lower faces of the treads of the rails7 WVitnesses: and the bolts 1l, arranged horizontally and DANIEL HAGER.,

passing through the webs of the rails and the ALBERT R. HAGER. 

